Having tinted several of my cars over the years I wouldn't recommend doing it yourself unless you are extremely patient and very detail oriented. It's really not all that difficult but it is a learned skill. If you decide to do it yourself, please do it indoors (garage or such) as any wind will blow dust and crap on the window you are trying to tint, not to mention it will inevitably crease the piece of tint you are trying to place. Your windows must be squeaky CLEAN. This means using a single edged razor blade and window cleaner to remove EVERYTHING from the window, otherwise you will have bubbles.

Only after you have tinted a dozen or so cars you can expect expert results. Unless you just want the experience, it's well worth paying a pro to do it right.

Good Luck!

 

Hey guys. So I finally got some window tint on my 96ES. I've been reading the forums and it seems that people like the FormulaOne brand of tint so I went with that. I'm not sure if this is normal protocol or just a bad tint job, but after they were finished I checked out the windows and the edge of the glass has about 1/4 inch where there's no tint. Is it supposed to be like that?

 

ehhh.....mine go all the way, but they may have did it to prevent peeling oon the window wen it is rolled up. but thats kinda lazy and crappy....

 

mine go all the way too, you have to really jam in it there with lots of soapy water

 

The ES doesnt have window frames. and because of that i believe it must have the tint go all the way to the edge. its easier, just push it over and run a razor blade along the edge...perfect fitment.

 

That, my friend, has been dubbed "the ghetto gap" by my tint shop. My tint goes all the way to the edge; I believe they used a small blowtorch on low heat to seal the edges of the tint to the glass, mainly because of the frameless windows. I have 35% LLumar tint.

I had a problem with the rear window on the inside of the hinge, where the tint peeled a bit because it rubbed against the rubber seal on the door, but they fixed it free of charge. Lifetime warranty FTW.

 

I can't do anything about it cause I wasn't the one that installed the tint - I took it to a shop. I gave them a call and asked them about it and they said it's "supposed" to be like that...what should I say?

 

That it shouldn't like ES3 Ray said (and i didnt know) the ES doesnt have window frames so the should go all the way up no problem. If and IF it did have a frame around the window then maybe but still not even the case cuz my GS has the tint all the way up except for like make a 1/8" very little barley even noticable

 

It should go to the top at least. Mine accidentally shifted down during the curing process in my Camry so I didn't notice until about a month later on my passenger side (only person in the car 99% of the time). Just bring it back for warranty. If they are legit then it should be smooth sailing for you

 

Well, it might not be able to be replaced under warranty, depending on the shop. Usually the warranty covers bubbling, cracking, peeling, etc.

A friend of mine had his tint done at a cheap place, and they ALWAYS add the gap. In fact, that shop actually charges a premium for the "premium edge" which is taking the tint to the edge of the glass...

 

nope mines go to the end of the window

 

it all depends on who does the tints i guess as long as the whole window is covered when the windows are up the tint installer can say he installed it properly.

 

Is it harder to tint all the way up the glass or something? I don't get why he didn't do it in the first place and why some would charge a premium for it...

 

Yeah, it seems like it would actually be harder to cut the tint to leave a gap, instead of putting the tint on and trimming the excess of the edge... I guess they just want to make an extra buck since most people would rather have it to the edge.

 

About to go and finally tint my windows after a couple months of owning the car. 1999 ES300 Red, Tan leather and I really want 35% on front winshield and 20% on the rest of the windows. Really want to know how dark is 35% on front winshield. my tint guy is saying it would be way to dark and would recomend 50% on winshield and 20% on rest. Which combo would yall perfer, or have or any other comments Thanks